RTÉ lobbies heavily for licence fee increase

‘Highly inefficient’ licence fee collection system by An Post is partly to blame

The latest batch of lobbying returns shows RTÉ has been pushing the government for urgent reform of the TV licence fee.

Director General Dee Forbes held separate meetings with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tánaiste Simon Coveney late last year looking for a solution to RTÉ's current funding problems. RTÉ’s financial difficulties saw it return a €6.4 million deficit in 2017, down from €19.4 million the previous year.

According to the national broadcaster, the ...